Global Positioning Systems (GPSs) are commonly used by marine vessel operators in order to continuously monitor the variables associated with safe navigation including coordinates, speed, heading, time and others. Although the GPS system is accurate and provides vital data relating to position in time of emergency, the GPS does not automatically provide information relating to approaching hazards such as storms, underwater hazards, potential collision with another vessel and many other conditions related to safe and accurate navigation. In order to obtain this information in real-time and automatically, a marine vessel must be equipped with a complete collection of integrated add-on navigation equipment including radar, graphic imaging capability for displaying charts and navigation aids, Doppler weather display and be alerted to changing underwater and above water hazard locations.
Implementation and application of the additional equipment necessary to achieve the ultimate in navigation is very expensive, must be attended, requires continual updating and maintenance, is difficult to interface in order to consolidate information and many other disadvantages. For example, anytime a vessel operator wants to view a Doppler weather image; the operator must have an Internet connection to a laptop computer or a special FAX machine. Or at anytime an operator needs to view nearby vessel traffic in fog; the operator must have an expensive radar system. It is virtually impractical for the average small commercial or pleasure vessel operators to equip their watercraft with a total complement of navigation equipment in order to provide real-time, safe and secure vessel navigation.
With regard to response to distress calls at sea (Maydays), the current system being implemented, that applies GPS readings, is a system that requires a new model of a VHF marine radio. The system, Digital Selective Calling (DSC) requires that an operator of a vessel in distress initiate a key on the vessel's marine radio. The radio will then emit a Mayday call on Channel 70 and at the same time transmit the GPS position (provided the GPS is connected). There are response delays associated with the system and the US Coast Guard will not be in a position to monitor the Mayday until it has the proper equipment in a few years. In the meantime, response to the Mayday is dependent on other vessels monitoring Channel 70 and relaying the Mayday to the US Coast Guard. As in the past, this will initiate time-consuming verbal question and answer by the US Coast Guard in order to determine the nature of the emergency.
In prior art an automated user notification system predates the instant invention; however, that system features are focused on warning the user in the sense that it only monitors threat-related information (user items) about a particular vessel, vehicle or other means of conveyance. The automated user notification system does not monitor threat-related information about the vessel, vehicle or other means of conveyance's external environment. When applied to a marine vessel as an example, should the automated user notification system system detect intrusion or attempted burglary via the on-board alarm system, a Network Operations Center (NOC) automatically provides immediate notification to the vessel owner if such a condition exists. In its complete embodiment, the automated user notification system system is limited to providing the owner with capability to automatically receive data from the vehicle concerning the cause of alarm actuation and to determine vessel location and status of vessel-associated parameters only. This is a serious drawback because the automated user notification system cannot proactively warn for external threats (collisions with other similarly equipped vessels, collisions with above water and underwater obstructions, etc.) and/or environmental threats (severe storms, fog, high waves and winds, etc.) to the user himself as well as the user's vessel. Nor does the automated user notification system have the ability to exert full dynamic control of navigational guidance for the vessel from a remote location in the case of a disoriented or disabled mariner, for example. Further disadvantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art and familiar with existing technology.
A second example of prior art is the application of the features associated with a Marine Vessel Traffic System (VTS) for harbors. The VTS collects harbor traffic information from multiple remote sensor collection sights around a harbor. The collected information is integrated, merged and stored in a remote and attended on-shore server computer. This computer is equipped with sophisticated processing software, an ORACLE database and an operator console for display and monitoring of marine vessel information and images. The presentation type and the display selection, from the plurality of operator displays, is determined automatically by means of the server computer software. The VTS utilizes pre-Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in order to monitor maritime shipping and US Navy vessels in all stages of harbor navigation and docking. The principle remote sensors used include real-time closed circuit television and radar. All information is collected from these remote sensors and are either stored or displayed via the attended shore-based server computer, also termed the Vessel Traffic Control Subsystem (VTCS). The VTCS demonstrates the prior state-of-the-art in marine vessel manual monitoring by using sophisticated computer-based data acquisition, database and monitoring technology. By comparison with the current system of the instant invention, the VTS system is considerably limited because of the absence of continuous on-vessel GPS monitoring and of closed-loop automatic proactive warning and control for impending threats to navigation and on-board vessel conditions.
A third in prior art, are systems for maritime marine vessel tracking. The features in this class of system are representative of many currently available satellite-based maritime shipping tracking and reporting systems. The system for marine vessel tracking uses a Remote Tracking Center (RTC) that receives GPS information from large marine shipping vessels, such as underway container ships, and stores this information at the RTC. One primary purpose of the system for marine vessel tracking is to generate third party reports. The RTC can transmit a signal to the subject vessel to trigger a report; however, by comparison with the current system of the instant invention, the RTC system is considerably limited because of the absence of closed-loop, automatic and proactive warning and control for impending threats.
A fourth in the prior art are collision avoidance system that features include a satellite navigational system to determine object motion parameters relative to the earth's surface and exchanges this information with other objects. In a collision avoidance system, each aircraft, vessel or other means of conveyance involved contains an on-board dedicated master computer processing unit (CPU) to carry-out a single function. The CPU receives tagged GPS information from transceivers positioned in other aircraft, vessels or other means of conveyance. The CPU also receives information from transmitters positioned on stationary obstructions such as mountains and radio towers. The on-board CPU software then applies this incoming information in order to compute the potential of collisions in three-dimensional space. As part of this function and if necessary, the CPU will provide a warning to the pilot or operator and/or send a signal to divert the aircraft from the collision path. The system for collision avoidance in aircraft is of necessity limited in its purpose by comparison to the instant invention. Specifically, system for collision avoidance does not provide closed-loop control, automatic and proactive warning and control for a complete family comprising collision avoidance and many other threats to vessels including those associated with storms, fog, manually programmed navigation restrictions and others.
The dedicated CPU of the system for collision avoidance that is applied on-board in high speed aircraft must of necessity be single function because of the limited processing time window and stringent FAA requirements for hardware and software reliability, as well as, software maintainability. Because of the lower speeds of marine vessels by comparison with aircraft, the system of the instant invention applies a relatively simple user-friendly operator interface in each marine vessel as an on-board proactive warning and control device. In the instant invention, all calculations and analyses that are used to determine threats to vessels are resident on a single fail-safe server computer that will normally be unattended and installed on-shore and communicate via digital wireless with the vessel on-board devices. The fail-safe server computer of the instant invention comprises sufficient processing capacity, memory and peripherals to conduct many functions for proactive emergency warning and control for a large number of marine vessels within a large coastal or inland water region. Proactive warning and control for navigation errors, severe weather, surface and underwater obstructions and collision avoidance with other vessels are but a few of the functions that will comprise the implementation of the system of the instant invention.
In summary, an unattended, but optionally attended, system for automatic 24/7 preventative warning and proactive initiation of Emergency Services alerts is not currently available in order to provide operators of one or more specific vessels of dangerous navigation threats that may lead to loss of life and property.